NY Answers: A Point of Entry System for Long Term Care in New York State

Dear Interested Party:

Enclosed for your review and comment is a Request For Information for a long term care Point of Entry (POE) system.

In his 2004 State of the State and Budget messages, Governor Pataki announced comprehensive efforts to reform the long term care system. The Governor declared, "These efforts will provide the services that help the elderly stay in their own homes - where they've lived their lives, raised their children and built their memories. And, for those that need a more intensive level of care, we will promote a variety of options - from assisted living to state-of-the-art nursing homes." He stated that "Clearly, we need to improve the Medicaid system. We must start by providing our growing population of aging citizens with the quality healthcare they need while preserving the system for their children and grandchildren."

In 2003 the Governor commissioned a Workgroup to study health care reform. In January, 2004 the Working Group submitted an interim report. Referring to long term care, the report stated that "An integral aspect of empowerment in the long term care system is creating a system that is easy for consumers and their caregivers to understand and use; that respects consumer choice by providing consumers and their caregivers with unbiased comprehensive information about available long term care options and provider performance; and that involves consumers and their caregivers in the planning, evaluation and decision making, so that supports are guided at all levels by consumer needs and preferences."

To assist consumers and their families and formal and informal caregivers to meet these needs, the Working Group recommended creating a point of entry into the long term care system. The Working Group advised that the system must be designed to serve persons of all ages regardless of payer source.

Before we proceed with the design of a point of entry system we are requesting information and advice from all stakeholders. We need to know your thoughts. The enclosed Request For Information (RFI) is designed to obtain responses from you regarding access, planning, and issues related to capacity, coordination, communication, performance, data collection, management, organization and finance.

The State may issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) using information from your submissions to this RFI. Responders to this RFI will not be precluded from responding to a future RFP to administer a point of entry.

We are requesting responses from all interested parties even if you do not intend to respond to a future RFP. We encourage you to respond to all questions or to those that you are most comfortable and knowledgeable addressing.

The New York State Office for the Aging and Department of Health are working collaboratively on designing the POE and both agencies will jointly be reviewing the responses. Your responses are requested by June 1, 2004. Please include the name, telephone number and e-mail address of a contact person that we may call if we have questions regarding your responses.

Thank you for responding to this important initiative.

Sincerely,

Kathryn KuhmerkerDeputy CommissionerOffice of Medicaid ManagementNew York State Department of Health